Christopher Schroeder

Category: community and culture

  • More Misty Than Clear

    More Misty Than Clear

    I still wanted to see Misty Green, which is the recent movie written and directed by Chris Rock, in spite of its mixed reviews.

    This movie tells the story of this aging and difficult actor (Rosalind Eleazar) who is given one week to leave her late lover’s apartment, discovers that her schizophrenic brother Jay (Daniel Kaluuya) has been released from rehab, and encounters a casting director named Jordan (Rock) who offers her second chances. This challenging confluence presumably is why Misty sabotages another acting opportunity and reluctantly accepts a prostitution offer from sometime lover, and fellow addict, Zach (Adam Driver), but doesn’t prevent her from attempting to make amends and reconstruct her life.

    I wanted to like this movie, which could have offered insights into aging, especially in a society that prioritizes its opposite. However, it seemed distracted by achieving a prestige status or something, which left it a slick story that never quite moved me.

    Eleazar’s performance is sufficiently solid, and could have offered a way into this story. Moreover, several of supporting performances as foils clarify Eleazar’s character Misty.

    Misty’s friend Naomi (Anna Kendrick) is content to settle for something less than honesty in exchange for stability, and her inheritance. Misty’s brother Jay models second chances but never can make amends, or make good on these second change promises.

    Part of the problem is that Misty’s change is never dramatized, which also poses a problem for the forgiveness theme that seems designated as the core of this story.

    Jordan tells Misty midway into the movie a story from his uncle about forgiveness — people discover how much they’re loved when their lovers find them sleeping with others — and Misty returns to this story when she stops by something Jordan is shooting at the end of this movie.

    Misty is high and driving when she is initially told this story, and has betrayed Jordan, and literally prostituted herself, when she returns to it at the end. The obvious question in the background has been whether she deserves forgiveness, but the significance is that she has learned to believe no matter whether Jordan calls or not that she does.

    This discovery, and growth, however are never dramatized or demonstrated, and need to be substantiated in a more developed script. As a result, this movie, which is mostly a success for Rock as its director, is somewhat less so for him as its author.

  • If We Can Keep It

    If We Can Keep It

    I didn’t expect to be politically re-energized again.

    I was, and still am, confused and curious about the next No Kings initiative of “hyper-local actions” alongside larger gatherings. I can understand the Indivisible mid-term optimism as a result of current polling data, Trump’s alienating actions, and its hope strategy but cannot ignore that I’ve been here before.

    I naively hoped that the first rally (April 2025) would capture politicians’ attention and compel substantial responses. I was more and more discouraged after subsequent rallies (June and October 2025 and March 2026).

    I objected to the way that Indivisible deployed a similar exclusionary strategy as others who critiqued mainstream Democratic leadership. I agree with the need for this specific critique, and support such critiques generally, but I wish liberals would lose their purity tests, and their political hypocrisies, and instead emphasize cross-community coalition-building.

    Then I read Jill Lepore’s most recent book about the Constitution. This book, which won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for history, offers an account of this foundational document that focuses on the part played by people in the pursuit of a more perfect union.

    The Constitution according to Lepore was designed as both a resistance and means to change. Central was the assumption that this document would not be preserved in its original form at all costs but that it would consistently and constantly updated and changed through amendments and other ways by the American people.

    Such a perspective, which she painstakingly establishes, is also clear in her critique of originalism. This interpretive strategy, which is predicated upon the search for the original intention or meaning, reinforces the impression of an artifact or relic to be preserved rather than a principled process for adaptation and change.

    This book, which some consider Lepore’s best, isn’t my favorite one of hers. Nonetheless, it convinced me that the American political system is a participatory sport, and not something seen from the sidelines.

    And it restored my motivation to reconnect with No Kings, Indivisible, and other political organizations that are calling out and challenging the corruption of this current administration, its Congressional enablers, and my fellow Americans who voted for them.

    Benjamin Franklin’s qualified answer to that Constitutional Convention question seems as relevant today as ever.

  • More Public Media Concerns

    More Public Media Concerns

    I was relieved that WBEZ ended its fall pledge drive yesterday and resumed its regular programming. However, I was reminded even before the broadcast began of my Chicago Public Media concerns.

    I had to listen to two sponsor spots on my smart speakers on my smart speakers. Then I lost count of the number of these and other disruptions such as show promos and apparent advertising — one lauded an antacid? — before I couldn’t listen anymore.

    I didn’t clock the minutes but couldn’t endure any more disruptions. I had spent too much time listening to something other than news, which is the primary reason I listen, and support, public media in the mornings and afternoons.

    I also predicted based upon experience that some of these segments from both NPR and WBEZ would be recycled for afternoon and weekend broadcasts. And I’ve begun to notice more excerpted podcasts on these news shows than original reporting.

    I realize that WBEZ and NPR are confronting challenging financial circumstances even without the incessant pledge drive reminders. I also still am, and have long been, a public media supporter, and long for a government-funded approach as is used in other countries.

    I’m still surprised that NPR and WBEZ hadn’t prepared for these federal funding cuts given how often conservatives have threatened to do so, which seems almost irresponsible. I’m moreover bewildered by the seeming inconsistency between the impression presented in the recent Chicago Sun-Times wraparound for example and these and other experiences, including ones with support staff and upper management, since these funding reductions and even earlier.

    I’ve volunteered for an upcoming usability test for < chicago.com >, which is its latest initiative. I’m skeptical that Chicagoans are seeking a synthesis of social media and reliable reporting but might misunderstand the scope and goals of this initiative.

    I just hope that Chicago Public Media can restore my confidence in it, and convince me to reverse my own financial support reductions, soon.